Friday, June 01, 2007

Allied Media Conference

First, there are some fabulous bloggers who want to go and I want you to help send 'em.
Fabulosa Mujer
Hermana Resist (donations can be made through her pay pal email: csdistro@gmail.com
Please Professor Black Woman
Black Amazon
The Primary Contradiction
Please think about donating!!!!

Second, an expanded look at the track sponsored by INCITE! at the conference, borrowed from Fab:
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence Co-Sponsoring Track At the Allied Media Conference .

Here’s the track INCITE is co-sponsoring:
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AMC WOMEN OF COLOR / TRANS FOLKS OF COLOR TRACK:
Using Documentary to Organize Against Violence and Colonization
Presenter: Rosemary Gibbons, Boarding School Healing Project
A Century of Genocide in the Americas: The Residential School Experience is a short but powerful documentary about how Indian Residential Schools became a haven for institutionalized sexual abuse. The inspiration for the film comes from the First Nations survivors who have taken legal action against the institutions that perpetuated this destructive cycle; these are the very same institutions whose purpose and mandate was to “provide” for their well being. This video takes a historical look at how the systematic removal of First Nations children from their families and community not only made the them easy targets for pedophiles but also how these vile acts turned many of the victims into predators. The second half shows First Nations peoples taking legal action against not only the pedophiles, but also against the Canadian government and churches while at the same time using their traditional ways of healing in order to bring back joy and balance back within their own lives and also within their communities.
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NO! The Rape Documentary
Film screening followed by a discussion with Director Aishah Shahidah Simmons
Through testimonies from Black women survivors, commentaries from acclaimed African- American women scholars and community leaders, including Johnneta Betsch Cole, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Elaine Brown, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall; impacting archival footage, spirited music, dance, and performance poetry, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities.
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Empowering Our Communities Through Oral History
Presented by: Emily Lawsin
What is Oral History? How can we use oral histories to help our communities? In this workshop, participants will learn different strategies of how to prepare for, conduct, process, and present an oral history interview. We will focus on how to phrase questions to get the most out of an interview, while managing recording equipment. We will also look at creative ways to document and present oral histories to empower marginalized communities.
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Accessibility: from Academia to the Internet
Presenters TBA (possible presenters include: Andy Smith, Nadine Naber, UBUNTU, Laila El-Haddad, and Anjali Teneja, Susana Adame)
This panel will look at two spaces not commonly thought of as realms of radical women of color organizing: academia and the Internet. What are the different opportunities and limitations within each of these realms? From the publishing of This Bridge Called My Back in the late 80s, to the recent publishing of INCITE! Color of Violence Anthology, college classrooms have nurtured radical women of color feminists. Yet academia on the whole remains an inaccessible, hostile space to women of color. The Internet maintains a reputation as the domain of only the privileged. Yet with every passing day, more women of color are starting blogs, sharing resources and building supportive communities through the Internet. Undeniably, the most important work being done to end violence against women and other systems of oppression is taking place in the streets and at the grassroots. How can we create new/stronger relationships between the worlds of academia, the Internet, and grassroots organizing?
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Peoples’ Statistics: Information Gathering For Organizing
Presenters: Andrea Ritchie and Remy Kharbanda
What role does research and information gathering play in our organizing work? What barriers and power relations are created and reinforced by existing research and information gathering methods and frameworks? How can they be challenged and broken down through empowering, collective and participatory production of knowledge about our communities? How can we value our own voices as “experts” in our lives instead of those of government, academics or big non-profits? How can we integrate information gathering and research into our base-building and organizing work? How do we ensure community ownership and engagement with research processes throughout? What resources exist to support us in collectively building knowledge for critical reflection and action?
Join RFR, a research collaborative dedicated to supporting and facilitating integration of participatory research and popular education in community based organizing, for a collective participatory exploration of these questions and more!
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Zine-making and Women of Color
Presented by: Nadia Abou-Karr
A zine is an independent publication, usually photocopied and distributed cheaply, with little or no profit. What makes this format appealing and useful for women of color? What are the obstacles faced by women of color zine-makers? Why do we do it? This session will tackle these concerns. It will be tailored to fit the needs of those in attendance, and can include open group discussion as well as a zine-making how-to guide, encompassing content, layout, printing and distribution.
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Building Inter-active Web Communities
Presented by: UBUNTU
UBUNTU is a Women of Color and Survivor-led coalition of individuals and organizational representatives, formed in Durham, NC in the wake of the Duke Rape Case. Out of rage, pain and hope they generate strategies and actions that prevent, disrupt, transform and heal sexual violence. Broken Beautiful Press is an online project of UBUNTU with the goal of fostering an inter-active web community for collective expression and community transformation. The site offers downloadable media arts projects which can be used as educational and organizing tools. This workshop will explore the Broken Beautiful Press model of engaging with the Internet for healing, transformation, education and organizing.
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Radical Women and Transgender Persons Of Color Blogging Caucus
Is it possible to organize online?
Although many people have sung the praises of online organizing, all too often nobody wants to hear about what a woman/transgender person of color has to say, much less how she is organizing. At the same time, however, many of us have found ways to expand and challenge traditional ideas of what online feminist organizing should or could be.
This caucus will be a space for women/transgender bloggers of color to come together and consider ways in which blogging can be used as an organizing tool. What have we done in the past? What’s worked? What hasn’t? What could we try differently? What could we do more of? How can we continue to push the boundaries of what online organizing “should be”? How can we use blogging as a tool toward ending violence against all women/transgender persons of color and our communities? Let’s work together to figure this out!
This is a women and transgender persons of color safe space.
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Beyond the Hijab: Struggling Against Stereotypes
Film screening followed by workshop/discussion
With Director Habibah Ahmad, Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s Youth Channel
Beyond the Hijab: Struggling Against Stereotypes is a documentary about 18 year-old Habibah Ahmad, an Afro-American Muslim woman, and her daily struggle against discriminatory labels. The video is a vivid exploration of race, religion, identity and religious intolerance in post 9/11 America. It provides a rich and challenging look inside the life of a young person torn between many alliances and facing intolerance as she tries to find her way in life.
Go! Help someone go!

1 comment:

La Otra said...

Thanks for spreading the word, Dr. Elle!

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